"For we do not
wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12
When you hear the words "Muslim" or "Islam", what thoughts
come to your mind? For many of us, we may have never had a Muslim friend or
acquaintance; the most we have heard of these people have been news reports of
violence and hatred.
The past two weeks, I have been in training for leadership and evangelism to
Muslim people groups in Nashville. My team's focus is on North African and
Middle Eastern people groups, specifically the Kurds and Somali Bantu. Our mission
is to bring the light of the gospel to these unreached people groups and
empower the local church to take up this mission and actively seek to
evangelize and plant churches among these peoples in the Nashville area.
Last Friday I had the opportunity to attend a service at the local mosque. We
did not participate, but we were able to observe from the back of the room as
the people worshiped their god. I have never known anyone who was Muslim, and
like many of you, I have been very detached from these people. As I attended
this service what I realized was that these people are just like us: sinners in
desperate need of the gospel of Christ. They have shown me incredible hospitality, often more
than I would expect from the most hospitable of Southern people.
I was struck by the devotion that these people showed to their god. These
people desperately want to please their god, but have been deceived by the lies
of the evil one. Pray against the powers of darkness and pray that the Spirit
would come and illuminate the lies and shine the truth of the gospel of Christ
through His Church.
"Of this gospel
I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me
by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the
saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery
hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the
manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in
the heavenly places."
Ephesians 3:7-10
Here's how you can
pray:
- Pray for wisdom/discernment as my
team seeks to effectively bring the gospel to the Kurdish and Somali
Bantu.
- Pray for visions and dreams for
the Muslims here in Nashville (85% of converted Muslims had a dream or
vision of Christ before conversion).
- Pray for the local church to have
the heart and eyes of Christ: to love and see the nations as God does.
- Pray for refugees to be open to
hearing the gospel and studying the Bible in their homes.
- Pray for a house church movement
to begin in Nashville that would impact the globe.
- Pray for God to do things that
only He can do. Pray big.
In Christ,
Matt